Parents Must Face Responsibility

June 29, 1998|The Morning Call

To the Editor:

Once again, we have a situation where a group of parents feel the rules should be changed to accommodate their children's anti-social behavior. It doesn't matter if their offspring disrupt the education and lives of the other students attending the same school. It doesn't matter if their sons or daughters have had a history of numerous suspensions for similar behavior. At best, they say, those enforcing the regulations must be vindictive. At worst, they must be "racist."

According to a June 19 article in The Morning Call, in Bethlehem the parents of Latino students expelled under the Code of Conduct at Northeast Middle School circulated a petition calling for the school board not to hire Terry Martin as principal. They contend that their children were "singled-out" for discipline due to their ethnic background.

The signers of these petitions should take a hard look at themselves. The problem lies not in Terry Martin or the Code of Conduct, but in parents who are not acknowledging responsibility for the disruptive behavior of their children.